In a color display using a liquid crystal, a color filter is used. The color filter is an essential component for a color display of a liquid crystal display and is also an important component determining the performance thereof. As a manufacturing method of a related color filter, a dying method, a printing method, an ink jet method, and a photoresist method have been known. Among those methods mentioned above, a photoresist method has been primarily used since the spectral characteristics and the color reproducibility can be easily controlled, the resolution is high, and a more highly minute pattern can be formed.
In manufacturing of a color filter using a photoresist method, in general, a pigment has been used as a colorant. However, a color filter using a pigment have many problems, such as a depolarization effect (destruction of polarization), a decrease in contrast ratio of a color display of a liquid crystal display, a decrease in lightness of a color filter, and a decrease in dispersion stability to an organic solvent or a polymer. Accordingly, a manufacturing method using a dye as a colorant has drawn attention. In PTL 1 and PTL 2, a color filter using a methine-based dye as a colorant has been reported.
In addition, in recent years, with the spread of a mobile color display device, easy color printing of photos and documents, each of which is photographed, processed, and/or further formed using the device mentioned above, has been increasingly in demand.
As a color printing method, for example, an electrophotographic method, an ink jet method, and a thermal transfer recording method have been known. Among those methods mentioned above, since printing can be performed by a dry process, and the printer is compact and excellent in mobility, a thermal transfer recording method is superior as a method in which printing can be easily performed regardless of use environments. In the thermal transfer recording method, a dye contained in a transfer sheet and an ink composition therefor is a very important material since influencing the speed of transfer recording, the image quality of a recorded material, and the storage stability. In PTL 3 and PTL 4, as one example of a dye to be used for a thermal transfer recording method, a methine-based coloring material excellent in clearness, color reproducibility, color density, and the like has been reported.
In addition, in the field of a color toner used in an electrophotographic method, in order to improve the chromogenic property, there has also been reported an example in which instead of using a pigment which has been used in the past, a dye is used as a colorant. Furthermore, in recent years, digital textile printing using an ink jet method has again drawn attention as a method capable of providing a textile printed product at a low energy and a low cost. As an ink jet ink for textiles, although a pigment may be used in some cases, in order to improve the chromogenic property, an example using a dye has been reported. In PTL 5 and PTL 6, as a colorant for a toner, examples using an azo-based dye and a methine-based dye have been disclosed.
Since the dye compounds disclosed in the documents described above each have many hydrogen bonding substituents in its molecule, in all types of applications, there has been a problem in that the dye compound is liable to aggregate by the intermolecular interaction under a high concentration condition. Hence, development of a compound capable of suppressing the intermolecular aggregation even under a high concentration condition has been desired.